City turning education hub for Intl students gradually;

Lokmat News Network

By Mehboob Inamdar

Aurangabad, July 20:

The city is gradually turning into an education hub for international students as 123 students from 21 different countries took admissions in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu) and affiliated colleges for the academic year 2021-22. All of them were selected for the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship offered by the Government of India.

It may be noted students from different countries take admissions in university departments and affiliated colleges every year. Only a handful of international students get this scholarship every year.

There were always complaints from students for difficulties in admissions, so students were moving to other universities of the country. The university and affiliated colleges get revenue in crores of rupees every year in the form of fees. Each international student pays three to five times more fees, depending upon course, compared to Indian students. More than 500 students from countries like Yemen, Thailand, Kenya, Sudan are pursuing education in the city.

Bamu implemented a one-window system to attract more students and make the admission process smoothly. Also, a hostel facility for international students was made available on the campus.

The registration process began in January and was completed recently. It was thought a number of international students would go down because of Covid outbreak impact on financial condition.

However, 123 students from 21 different countries were selected for the ICCR scholarship for the academic year 2021-22 for undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD research. The number of students also increased. During the academic year 2020-21, 107 students had taken admissions while only a few were selected for the scholarship.

The countrywide foreign students selected for the scholarship for the academic session 2021-22 are as follows Yemen (41), Afghanistan (38), Nepal (15), Palestine (six), Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania (two each) and Angola, Djibouti, Ghana, Lesotho, Egypt, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Syria and Zimbabwe (one each).

When contacted, vice-chancellor Dr Pramod Yeole said that different required facilities, including one window, online admissions made available during the last one year to attract more and international students for education here.

He said the Foreign Students Cell of the university launched a separate web portal in October 2020 to facilitate for international students from the admission process to the convocation ceremony.

The portal is a one-window where students can register for the course, can upload documents.

All the undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD research information was made available for the international students online.

He said that foreign students, mostly from the middle-east, find the city’s diverse culture and climate suitable.

VC Dr Yeole said they have 123 students who registered for the admissions for the academic year 2021-22 and were also for the scholarship.